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Unit 3 “Getting to Know Letters”
This unit is about letters. There are seven headings. The first is warm up and there are some guiding questions before the unit gets into the lesson. The second
heading is about the types of letters. The third heading describes the parts of a letter. The forth heading introduces a friendly letter. The fifth heading is about business
letters. The sixth heading describes cover letters. The last heading is about memos. Every heading consists of an explanation and there are exercises for students to
practice in each heading.
Unit 4 “Through the Cultures”
In unit 4, it is about culture. There are five headings in this unit. The first is the warm up. The second heading is about cultural greetings. The third heading is
about clothing in culture. The fourth heading talks about the culture of eating and cuisine. The last heading is about religion. In this unit, students can practice their
writing through learning about culture. This unit presents cultures that students are familiar with. This is taken into consideration to help students produce content like
sentences and paragraphs more easily.
D. Discussion
The purpose of this research was to develop appropriate writing materials for the Second Year University Students of the English Department at Champasak
University. The materials were developed by using the model of Jolly and Bolitho 1998, 97 in Tomlinson 1998 which involved six steps of development.
According to the needs of the students within the research, it was identified that students needed materials ie. Text books which covered the process of and the
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mechanics of writing. The needs analysis was conducted to collect data about the students’ profile and their needs in order to develop the materials.
The needs analysis included students’ profile, students’ learning background, students’ level of language proficiency skills, grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation, students’ level of intercultural competence, students’ interest, students’ learning preferences and students’ attitudes toward the subject of writing.
Based on needs analysis data, students need to know more about writing process and the important elements of writing. Furthermore, students need to know about
types of text and its structure. Moreover, they need to learn about letters. Besides, students also need to know about other cultures.
Four units of writing materials were developed in this research. The development of the materials were based on the results of the needs analysis. The
materials involved a writing process based on the approaches to teaching writing. The activities in all units are based on the lessons provided within the materials.
Based on the results of the analyzed data, the data shows that the materials are appropriate for students
. The data shows that the materials cover students’ needs and meets their learning preferences. The appropriateness shows by the total scores
of 13.48 and average mean score for .
. �� . . The materials were categorized as very good.
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E. The Limitation of the Research
Throughout the development of these materials for Second Year Students of the English Department, at Champasak University the researcher found the
limitations of the research as follow: 1. The needs analysis step was difficult to be completed because it was
done during the week of the students’ examinations.
2. The needs analysis covered one class of Second Year University Students from the English Department.
3. The materials evaluation process covered one class of Second Year University Students from the English Department.
4. Based on the different backgrounds of students, some vocabulary was difficult to understand.
5. Based limited time, all students’ comments could not be take into
account.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter comprises of the conclusion of the research. Additionally, suggestions will also be provided to teachers, schools or Universities, students, and
other researchers. The report will conclude with a plan and aim to disseminate the findings to the English Department, Faculty of Education, at Champasak University
in Laos.
A. Conclusion
Following the procedures of the Research and Development RD model developed by Jolly and Bolitho 1998 in Tomlinson 1998 which involve six steps
of developing, the English writing instructional materials highlighted in this report have passed all requirements of the model.
Based on needs analysis data, students need to know more about writing process and the important elements of writing. Furthermore, students need to know
about types of text and its structure. Moreover, they need to learn about letters. Besides, students also need to know about other cultures.
Based on results of appropriate evaluation toward writing production, it can be concluded that
the materials cover the students’ needs and their learning preferences. In addition, these English writing instructional materials are
appropriate for the Second University Students of the English Department, Faculty of Education, at Champasak University.
